Apocalypse is Certain

It’s Anyway unbelievable!

He could not reach the final date but the mind was saying very clearly that the last day was somewhere in September 2025. And the mind was also telling that the previous day had been 22 July 2023. That the last day could have been a day in future was an absurd idea. However, the mind could be so convinced that the day had passed regarding a date that is yet 2 years in future, and has not been experienced, could not be ignored either. It was unbelievable that way too! He could clearly remember the events of the previous day, if the day was supposed to be 22 July 2023. He remembered well how he had applied for a new job. He remembered to have talked to Jacky on phone about the new phone he had bought. It was all so clear that he could not be mistaken about it having been the previous day. But that he had talked to somebody about the Foreign Minister’s death in a desperate manner too seemed to be a clear memory. Clear enough to not be mistaken as part of a nightmare. How could a memory of an incident be so faded regarding some parts of the incident while being so clear about the rest of it! While he was absolutely sure that he had talked to someone in 2025 about the minister’s death while facing exceptional panic, he could not get the slightest idea about who it was with whom he had discussed that event and what was the cause of the panic. So, he could not believe his mind for the time being not only because his mind was suggesting that he had experienced time travel but also because the mind could recollect some pieces of supposed experience in the future absolutely clearly while could not even concentrate enough to even try properly to recall the rest of the pieces of the memory. It was just like the hours that he used to spend with the books open but gathering nothing out of the books. His biggest problem during the college days was that he desperately wanted to study hard but his temperament somehow did not suit long study hours. Sometimes, he would force himself to stay in front of the books. He would have perfect mood, a strong urge to cover quite a few chapters of the book. However, his mind simply won’t support. He would keep staring at the book getting nothing out of it. He would take 10…15 minutes to read a single page. Reaching the end of the page after those long 15 minutes or so, he would have to remind his mind that he has picked up nothing from the page. It was frustrating to force himself to go through the page yet again without any gain the next time too. The mind was not always equally stubborn to not respond to the efforts to gain information, but sometimes, it simply won’t cooperate. He experienced the same feeling now. Presently he had got ready to face the situation, whatever he might come to know about whatever had happened before he woke up. However, his mind was just teasing him by stating with absolute clarity something that was absolutely unbelievable. How could two different days from two different years, one of which was still part of future, be his recent past?

He finally got up and picked his mobile phone from the table. He wanted to take his time to resolve the puzzle. He went back to the sofa again without even turning the display of his phone on. Settling back in the sofa, he pressed the home button of his phone and the display went on. In the meanwhile, he had also got reminded that he had not even checked what time it was. He did not want to be worried about reaching the office in time. In fact, the stress of reaching at work in time had lost it aura altogether under the influence of this newly found stress his mind was facing. Anyway, he had a look at the date displayed on the screen of his phone as well as the time. It was 9 am. And, it was 23 July 2023.  And, it was Sunday. That was a little relief since, at least, there was no problem in his having gotten up so late since he did not have to go to the office.

So, after all, his mind had been bluffing him so convincingly that it was the year 2025. Absent-mindedly, he opened the dialed list in his phone. He wanted to call Somu and to call him over to discuss with him the confusion. Instead of going to the phone-book, he opened the dialed list since it would have been easier for him to find Somu’s number there. His and Jacky’s numbers always used to be among the most recently called numbers since they used to call each other quite frequently. In the same absent minded manner, he began sliding the list up. Within a moment, his absent mindedness was gone. He was yet again alert and the slight relaxation he had got after checking the date was gone in a flash. He suddenly felt that the relaxation was fake and that the date displayed n the screen of his phone was not to be trusted. He kept on sliding the screen but Somu’s number was not to be found in the dialed list. Numbers called yesterday…. day before yesterday… day before that…. And so on. Somu’s number was not there. Nor was Jacky’s. There were few numbers called bunched together under the heading Yesterday. Then, some more, under the heading Friday... Thursday… Wednesday… Tuesday… Monday. How could Somu’s as well as Jacky’s numbers not be there in the dialed list of an entire week? But this was not the reason that forced his eyes to go wide open with surprise. It was something far more unbelievable than this that he noticed in the dialed list as he dragged it further up. The first date that was displayed in the dialed list as a heading for the numbers called over a day once the numbers called over last one week had already been checked made him miss a beat. He kept on staring at the date for a while and was not sure what to make of it. And he madly began sliding the screen further to see further dates and he had to get convinced that what he was seeing was actually happening.